I have to say I am more than a little surprised that some Mets fans have made Terry Collins the bad guy for being totally, and in my mind justifiably, pissed off over the rash of injuries that have hit the Mets this spring. Two of Collins “Must Do’s” on his list of things to work on this spring were improve the defense and work on baseball fundamentals, two of the biggest deficiency of the 2011 Mets. It’s very hard to do when the players you are counting on for the season are sitting in the trainer’s room.

I don’t understand why some folks feel that Collins tirade yesterday meant he wanted players to spit on the injury or rub some dirt on it, no it’s more frustration as to why are these players are suffering pulled muscles and how does the training staff help prevent these nagging hurts.

Collins is a realist he knows his team is projected by many to be awful this season add in that the same people feel Citi Field will be a ghost town as well, so he knows it’s his job to get this team off to a fast start. That’s why he gets giddy talking about Johan Santana’s performance so far this spring.

Sitting Ruben Tejada yesterday was the right thing to do, but put yourself in the managers shoes. He makes out his lineup and is set to go but then he finds out his shortstop can’t go, what is he supposed to do laugh and make jokes like Jerry Manuel? You all detested Manuel for his clown act and now you’re all pissed that Collins is intense. Your all are sick of being the laughing stock of baseball but you don’t want the players challenged?

David Wright is starting to annoy me as well, not because he’s hurt but he’s supposed to be the leader here but when he makes statements like this I shake my head a bit:

As for the frustration Terry Collins expressed the previous day about the litany of Mets injuries, Wright said: “It’s OK to be frustrated. But at the end of the day it’s spring training. You have to err on the side of caution. We spoke to Terry about it. Terry will be the first one to tell you that if you feel something, come right in. It’s frustrating, obviously, because you want all of your guys out there. But if you look around the league, every team is going to be banged up and every team is going to be more cautious than trying to push guys out there in spring training.

“I think sometimes a guy gets a day off or two and things get a little overblown. Spring training, it’s not about trying to go out there and push yourself. We’ll do that during the season. We’ll go out there and play banged up. Everybody has done it. But spring training you have to be a little more smart about it.”

First I don’t care what other teams are doing I care about that the Mets season not being done by Memorial Day. I care that this team is nowhere near good enough to flip a switch on April 4th and play good baseball. The margin of error for this team is slimmer than the Olsen Twins standing sideways.

The injury to Wright has me worried because what happens if the injection he received doesn’t work, what if this becomes chronic like Ryan Zimmerman last season and he misses more than a month or two? What is Plan B if Wright can’t make opening day?

Wright seems to think he can just go over to the minor league camp to make up missing at bats which is fine but as much as his offensive game has slipped the last two seasons his play at 3rd base has deteriorated even more and I worry about that part of Wrights game than his offense.

When you’ve been as bad as the Mets have been the last few years and with all the negative off the field bullshit that surrounds the team, I would hope the so called face of the franchise would have more of an edge to him.

After a week sleeping in a tent in the woods of upstate New York listening to wolves howling in the middle of the night and having nightmares of a bear in a Highlander uniform attacking me in my tent, I can say without a doubt that it’s good to be home.

Not just because I missed my wife and daughter but I missed watching the Mets as well. I haven’t felt that way in a couple of years so yesterday it was nice to hit the couch with a cold drink and a meal without dirt and bugs in it and watch the through ass kicking the Mets administered on the Phuck Phaces. The offense was explosive with bench mob members Scott Hairston and Nick Evans busting out and the Mighty Celtic Daniel Murphy (.349/.408/.465 RISP .383/.408/.489 RISP w/2 out) continuing his solid season but again it was the pitching of Jon Niese that stood out. Niese has stepped up as a solid starter for the Mets not just for 2011 but for season beyond. Niese is not an ace but he will be a good solid 2 or 3 for the Mets for years to come.

I’ll get into more stuff tomorrow as I’m still trying to get my back to straighten up again and get my system reintroduced to edible food. Even with all those drawbacks a week away with my son on a camping trip is worth every mosquito bite and bad meal and sleeping in less than ideal conditions.

There has been lot’s of debate on the ethics of Rubin, some are upset in the pro-Backman crowd and feel Rubin is out to get Backman and some are upset with the tactics Rubin took in reporting this. The thing is, Rubin didn’t come out with a column to dish dirt on Backman, he was asked about Wally’s chances of being named the manager in a chat and stated there were things he heard about Backman via a source with the Mets and he feels he won’t get the job. I asked Rubin about this and I took away from the conversation that this has to do more with on the field doings than off.

As Mets fans we have to put our trust in Sandy Alderson that he will hire the man he feels is the right man for the job. I mentioned how I was afraid of a Bob Melvin hire thinking this would be Art Howe Redux, but Rubin stated that Melvin is no way an Art Howe clone.

There was no bigger enigma in the sports worldlike George Steinbrenner. As much as he treated people like dirt, he also was extremely charitable. For all the money and power he had, his childhood was kind of sad as his he could never seem to do anything that pleased his father whose love he craved but never seem to have gotten.

From reading Bill Madden’ book he was in a loveless marriage and his daughters seemed to always find Mr. Wrong when it came to marriage. But when it came to running a baseball team you can not denniy his success.

The Highlanders were a joke of a franchise under CBS ownership and Mike Burke’ stewardship but all that turned around when Steinbrenner took over. Give the man credit he took over NYC and the Highlanders became more important than any time in their history under Boss George.

So now what happens to the Highlanders? My guess is the Steinbrenner children sell the team. I bet James Dolan and his Cablevison bucks will come calling soon

Yesterday I pulled a Mike Francesa as I was “In da cawh” listening to Howie and Wayne doing the Mets game on radio. I don’t listen to the Mets radio team very much as I’m either glued to the TV or at the game (I’m not one to listen to the game when I’m there I never understood that as everything you need to know is right in front of you) so I tend to forget how much Howie is one of us. Gary Cohen, of course is one of us as well and he sometime shows his frustration during a telecast or two but Howie was beside himself watching Ollie Perez throw a baseball yesterday (I refuse to call what he did pitching)

It was very cold and very windy yesterday and Howie and Wayne made a point to let us know how much the elements plus Perez’ inability to throw a strike, was putting the Mets defense in an uncomfortable spot. Howie painted a picture of infielders walking around the dirt between pitches to keep warm and to kill the boredom of long counts and walks, and of Ike Davis sticking both hands under his arms to stay warm. Both announcers made it known that the were fed up watching and detailing the play by play of another start of suckitude by Perez. From the derisive cheers when an actual strike was tossed by OP, I’d say the paying customers felt the same way. So what to do with Ollie Perez.

Well, forget about The Skill Sets releasing OP, not with a $12 mil salary for this season and (GULP!) next and there is no one in the baseball world stupid enough to take on that contract since the only dumb ass that would pay Perez that kind of money is already his employer. The easiest move is to replace OP with either Hisanori Takahashi or Raul Valdes in the rotation and move OP to the pen. The best move would be to just put Perez on waivers, let him go unclaimed and then assign him to Buffalo. That move would work if we knew when Ryota Igarhashi is coming back from a hammy strain but there’s been no info on his progress.

Whatever way it’s handled, nothing with Perez falls in the Mets favor. Management talks about “it’s all about winning” well, if that’s the case prove it, put Perez on waivers, when he clears, assign him to Buffalo. It’s the only way, Perez just sucks the life out of the team, the fans and the announcers. He has GOT TO GO!!!!!!

Take a listen to last nightâ€™s NY Baseball Digest show as Joey DeMayo dished out some great dirt on the off season plans of our Amazin’s. I listened to the show and three things made me sit up straight and listen. First, Ryan Church LOVES NY and Mike Francesa is full of shit (and cheeseburgers too) what pissed Church off was the fact that Dirty Duaner and Ricardo Rincon showed up late for games the last week of the season,Â then there is a Jason Issringhausen mention. Remember Izzy?Â His deal with the Cardinals is up and he could come to the Mets with a spring training invite to prove his elbow has been repaired and in good operating order, and then the one that had me going was the fact that the Mets will be in the Manny Ramirez hunt. In fact Omar tried hard to make a match when Manny was sent to LA so now that all it cost is money look for the Mets to make a move with Manny. I know I just ruined the day for a lot of you but I am and unabashed Manny fan and I vote yes for Manny to the Mets. Flame away, yâ€™all!

Â

Ambirorix Burgos is finished as a Met and a professional baseball player and a free man. Good riddance.

Â

The canâ€™t tear our house does fast enough; it seems as the back page of the Daily News show us. Click here for the multimedia show of the Shea dismantlingÂ My wife came up with a great question the other day when she asked me â€œ Why didnâ€™t the Mets let us walk on the field after the game on Sundayâ€?Â Why dear ?, because that would be somethingÂ the fans would have cherished and Mets management is against us being happy. Really how could they not have done this? They had about 1,000 cops on duty and they could have let the fans line up with one line of fans walking from the third base side to center field and another line of fans go from the first base side to center field . I guess they were afraid that Mets fans would have the unmitigated gall to take some stadium dirt or some grass because as we all know that dirt and that grass will be used to raise funds for â€œcharityâ€ Yeah right.

Â

I think Iâ€™ll be rooting for the Tampa Rays and maybe we all should as the owner Stuart Steinberg is a Mets fan and a season ticket holder and of course there is the Scott Kazmir scenario.

Tickets

The Mets are looking great this year and The Eddie Kranepool Society
keeps you up to date on the good bad and the ugly. If you are looking for Mets Tickets, you must visit Coast To Coast Tickets for all your ticket needs. CTC carries MLB Tickets as well as some of the best priced Concert Tickets on the web and don't forget they also carry Yankees Tickets.